Some Excursions(with camera): Week 2, January 29- February 4

Tomonari Nishikaka's Market Street(2005) creates a 1 fps film that is able to enthrall the viewer and present them with an alternate way of seeing. Below, a shot of his film strip gives us insight into the patience and foresight it takes to make a film like this. It appears that he used specialized lens allowing him to properly frame the shots which lead to a reocurring pattern of moving shapes. At one point in the film he switches to a standard 24 fps shot of the street, allowing the viewer to compare and contrast the two different ways of seeing. Nishikaka creates suspense and insight reminiscent of early cinema of attraction films. The only dissapointing part of this film is how short it is (5 minutes).

Nishikaka's Next film (Clear Blue Sky) attempts to give another obscure way of seeing. He uses a pinhole technique to alter/blur the image. Blurred images of a sunny day at a park are presented concurrently with clear audio. The contrast in sound and image is the strongpoint of this piece but other than that Clear Blue Sky is a somewhate painful view of the world; as someone mentioned in discussion of the film it is like viewing through the eyes of a person with horrible vision who has misplaced their glasses. This concept of vision or act of seeing is explored in a different context with Diane Kitchen's 2001 film entitled Wot the Ancient Sod. Kitchen's use of the close-up and her overall knowledge of 16mm filmmaking are impressive and apparent in this film but watching proves to be painful. In focus close-up shots of the leaves make the piece interesting and almost climatic. Though there is an obvious point behind showing the majority of the images blurred it still, in my opinion, cannot make up for their annoyance and uninteresting, repetitive use.

- Discussing films of this nature with peers really makes me question the use of the critique in art. No matter how similar a persons interests their perception of film, and art in general, is all preference and/or personal interpretation. Who is to say what is quality art to other individuals? The idea of someone else telling me what I, or others like is upsetting and ultimately ridiculous.
- How is artwork effectively graded and critiqued by one individual?

In a selection called Metaphors on Vision filmmaker Stan Brakhage says, "Imagine an eye unruled by man made laws of perspective, an eye unprejudiced by compostitional logic, an eye which does not respond to the name of everything but which must know each object encountered in life through an adventure of perception." His film Commingled Containers is an obvious exploration of this idea. Brakhage presents everyday sights in a way that the eye is not accustomed to seeing. He presents different perspectives and views that make some objects(i.e water) unidentifiable and in return more beautiful. Brakhage's obscure flow of images and test of the camera in this film test perception and traditional use of the camera.

- Nathaniel Dorsky's 16 mm short Variations seems to either influence American Beauty or is influenced by it with the famous "wind blown bag" sequence.
-Dorsky's presentation of different planes and depths of field was interesting.
- His pan over a blanket in a reserved lighting almost made the film look technicolor.
- The way Dorsky presents his images allows the viewer to obtain a different point of focus.
- His shot of the pastel colored houses remind me of Edward Scissorhands.
- It is interesting to see a film that is not bound by any sort of subject matter or focal point. Complete mystery of what is coming next could also be perceived as a new way of seeing.

3 1/2 weeks worth of walking captured in 3 1/2 minutes of video is Oscar Fischinger's Munich-Berlin Walking Trip(1927). What surprises me the most about this film is the lack of footage involving the urban areas Munich or Berlin. What this seems to do is emphasize the journey; 'its not where you're going, its how you got there.' His short scenes of vast open land. moving skies, and country life combined oddly well. The film almost seems like an installment of a three part series in which we are missing the beginning and end, but for some reason it is acceptable.

For Further insight check www.soundtransit.nl/